The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Dendranthema grandiflora and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Yoauburn.
The new Chrysanthemum is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Salinas, Calif. and Fort Myers, Fla. The objective of the breeding program is to create new potted Chrysanthemum cultivars with desirable inflorescence form and floret colors and good postproduction longevity.
The new Chrysanthemum originated from a cross made by the Inventors in October, 1994, in Salinas, Calif., of a proprietary Chrysanthemum seedling selection identified as YB-4439 as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary Chrysanthemum seedling selection identified as YB-6616 as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventors in November, 1996, as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross grown in a controlled environment in Fort Myers, Fla. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable inflorescence form and floret colors and good postproduction longevity.
Asexual reproduction of the new Chrysanthemum by vegetative tip cuttings was first conducted in Fort Myers, Fla. in January, 1997. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Yoauburn has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Yoauburnxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Yoauburnxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Chrysanthemum:
1. Upright, outwardly spreading and uniformly mounded plant habit.
2. Very freely branching, dense and full plants.
3. Uniform flowering response.
4. Early flowering, eight-week response time.
5. Very freely flowering.
6. Daisy-type inflorescences that are about 7.2 cm in diameter.
7. Orange bronze-colored ray florets and bright yellow disc florets.
8. Excellent ray floret color retention.
9. Can be grown as a natural spray-type.
10. Good performance under winter conditions.
11. Good postproduction longevity with inflorescences maintaining good substance and color for about three weeks in an interior environment.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum differ from plants of the cultivar, Orange Davis, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,295, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum are not as outwardly spreading as plants of the cultivar Orange Davis.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum and plants of the cultivar Orange Davis differ in ray floret color.
3. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flower more uniformly than plants of the cultivar Orange Davis.
4. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flower about 4 to 6 days earlier than plants of the cultivar Orange Davis.
5. Under high production temperatures, ray florets of plants of the new Chrysanthemum do not exhibit floret color break (yellow flecking on ray florets) whereas ray florets of plants of the cultivar Orange Davis will exhibit floret color break.